Bound by Destiny | COUNTRYHUMAN AU

Ice breaker

"Hello Germany," Nurse WHO welcomed me warmly into her office. Poland was already sitting in one of the couches, munching on a cookie. "Cześć Germany," he greeted. I smiled awkwardly before greeting him back. She motioned for me to sit next to Poland and took a seat at her desk. Swallowing, I hesitantly sat next to him. "Cookie?" she offered it to me from a jar. I politely declined, not in the mood for any food.

For a few moments, the only sounds in the office were the sounds of Poland's munching on his cookie and the soft whir of the small fridge. After a while, Nurse WHO decided to dive into Poland's treatment plan. "Have you ever tried removing nightmares before Germany?" she questioned me. I shook my head, noticing Poland frowning. He's probably regretting his choice now... She nodded, before reassuring me that the procedure was uncomplicated. "If a novice was the first person to try this out and succeeded, then you too can do the same," she told me, "It's better anyways for those who are unfamiliar with their ability since this is to do with the mind. Relying on your instincts will be better in this case. If you are worried, I can let you read through this book first. Be careful with it." She passed me a blue hardcover book and I took it, thanking her. Ancient words in gold lettering and a picture of a snake twirled around a staff decorated the front cover. "This is a copy, the usual one that you get at the libraries, of the journal I keep. I can't give you the actual one since it's old. It's not very safe to give it to people. Honestly UN should keep it in a museum but–you get the idea."

"When can we get started? Today?" Poland interrupted, not bothering to hide his excitement. I only felt more pressure on my back. "Unfortunately not today. I want you to try an exercise first before we start the treatment. The procedure works the best when both parties are familiar with one another," Nurse WHO explained, "Today you'll work on that aspect. I want both of you to spend an hour to find out 10 positive things about one another. I can leave my office as a place for you to do so or you can do this later tonight after dinner with Singapore in your dorm living room. It's up to the two of you."

"Dorm," both of us said at the exact same time. Nurse WHO nodded before telling us that she'd notify Singapore. We thanked her and she chuckled. "No problem. Tomorrow at the same time, please come back here and we can start on our treatment then if I think both of you are ready," she informed us.

We both stood to leave as we bid her goodbye. She waved back at us and we quickly left the room.

*

It was around 8pm when Singapore came back from his dinner. I was sitting on the couch–Poland chose to be in his room–reading the journal Nurse WHO had given me. The more I read about the procedure, the more nervous I felt. I could already foresee a thousand ways I could completely mess it up. I might erase a memory by accident...I might go another power run and completely fragment Poland's mind (and mine in the process if I was unlucky)...I might make his nightmares worse... Eventually, I gave up and began to read the other pages. They were much easier to process and wouldn't send me spiralling.

"Oh hey Germany," he greeted me casually. It seemed like he had gotten a bit more used to me after spending almost 2 months with me. "Hey Singapore," I smiled, setting my book down.

"I'll take a quick shower and we can start?" he asked me.

"Sure."

Just as the door to the toilet closed, Poland came out. "Is Singapore back?" he stifled a yawn. I nodded as he took a seat next to me much to my surprise. "Er...yea," I answered, berating myself for acting so awkwardly. Poland nodded, stifling another yawn. I returned back to my book as silence filled the room.

"Erm...so...er...are you feeling better? Y'know after you passed out and all," I could already hear East slapping his forehead. Amazing social skills Deustchland. Really amazing. I winced internally as Poland nodded. "I'm better now. Thanks for asking," we both fell silent again. Say something! Come on! This is getting too weird. I racked my brain for something conversation worthy but couldn't think of anything. I can't possibly talk about the weather can I?